IT'S OVERRR

My Summit experience this year has been anything but expected.

From my previous knowledge of Summit groups, most of them seemed to work predominantly in the community, with limited interaction with the student body of Drury’s campus. As the Panthers for Planned Parenthood, we did just the opposite. All of our events were interactive with the student population, from last semester’s Kinky Crafting session to this semester’s Vagina Monologues and Take Back the Night at MSU.

As an individual, what I have learned the most is the challenge of cooperation, especially considering that we all live together, constantly in each other’s hair. With this, I think I’ve developed a certain tolerance that I didn’t necessarily have before; usually I just let myself fly off the handle at the first sign of distress. And while I may have given way to this a few times, I have definitely kept this in check far more than I expected. Needless to say, this allowed me to listen and cooperate more effectively with the Panthers. As far as my future at Drury goes, and in my future beyond college, I’d wager these cooperative skills will be beneficial to my career in architecture, as most projects are tackled in teams. If I hadn’t the chance to participate in Summit, I’d say my cooperative skills in the team activities would be lacking compared to those of other architects.

By far our Summit group affected the Drury community. Before Panthers for Planned Parenthood, there was no activism of the sort on campus. Even other area campuses, such as MSU, had VOX. Speaking of, the budding Voices of Planned Parenthood coming next semester is the true indication of our impact in the community.

After a year in Summit, I’ve come to realize the importance of effective communication within the house. What nearly tore us apart was our inability to talk it out, and work around each other’s schedules to find the time to plan events, etc. As for the incoming Summit groups, prepare your communication skills. Set aside an adequate amount of time to dedicate to your fellow Summit members.

And that’s all folks!

LJ

Get NAKED with a Condom

Make way for VOX – Voices of Planned Parenthood at Drury. Last weekend the Panthers for Planned Parenthood met with other students at Drury eager to give our organization a voice on campus. All I can say is it’s about time. Most universities do have Planned Parenthood groups on campus, even MSU. So Drury is finally catching up. The group will be lead by Jenn Kearbey and faculty advisor, English professor Jo Van Arkel, and of course Crystal from Planned Parenthood.

At the meeting we discussed our campus involvement, and we’re attempting to start events as early as the end of the semester. And next year we plan to continue working with Allies and V Warriors on overlapping events.

We concluded that it would be great to continue passing out contraceptives. But as you may or may not have noticed, we’ve sort of run out of creative methods of doing so. And in regards to recent campus news, we recognize that many of the students, faculty, and staff are upset that the CX no longer carries Naked Juice drinks. We as the Panthers of Planned Parenthood, with our new group VOX, will hopefully be selling Nakeds, with an attached condom, on campus in the last week or so of the semester. Currently we’re attempting to find a business from which we can purchase the drinks. Right now I believe Big Momma’s is the frontrunner.

I think the biggest challenge in this event will be cramming the sales in with the end of the semester, on top of our other tasks. But on the bright side I think this is the event that will really make us known in the Drury community. For Panthers for Planned Parenthood, better late than never, but for VOX, we’re coming, Drury!

Break the Silence

Oh, what a lovely Friday it is to be stuck in classes all day.

Since our last updates I think it’s safe to say that everyone in the Velvet Crowbar (our Planned Parenthood Summit house) has been busy with everything under the sun, so needless to say, we’ve put Summit on the back burner. But never fear! We’ll be alive and kicking post-spring break.

Not much has happened in the past three weeks. Yikes. But I mustn’t forget the Feminist Happy Hour event on Wednesday at the Farmers’ Gastropub, sponsored by our Planned Parenthood faculty advisor and my email pen pal, Dr. Erin Kenny. Promoting women’s rights, attendees got their photograph taken with the phrase “This is the face of a feminist” framing their face. It was great to see Sean and Kevin attend the event; I suspect they were the event’s male population.

Anyways, onward to April. Along with our sister program, Missouri State’s Voices of Planned Parenthood, VOX, we’re putting on the event Take Back the Night; the campaign is aimed to put an end to sexual violence. “Here is a place to take a stand, a place to break the silence.”

I believe tickets will be eight dollars or so, but don’t take my word for it. Proceeds will go towards Planned Parenthood; they need all the funding they can get with recent budget cuts. Anyways I bet you’re wondering what you get for eight dollars. DJs from MAKEOUT will be mixing the event, so it’s guaranteed good music. And of course there will be food.

So that about wraps it up. April is sure to be a busy month in the house, with many more events to come. We’ll keep you posted.

See ya, toots,

Laura Jean

It's finally Friday!

These past few weeks have been hectic not only with schoolwork but also Summit as well, so this Happy Friday is particularly cheerful. Last week the Panthers for Planned Parenthood prepared for the Vagina Monologues. We set up a table outside the event on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights in order to get signatures for Planned Parenthood’s Birth Control Matters petition and to pass out contraceptives. The petition demands that birth control is made available to all women with no co pay and sex education becomes a more prevalent subject in the education of young people.

So these Vagina Monologues events unearthed some of the weaknesses of our Summit house with Planned Parenthood and with each other, particularly in the way of our lines of communication. Our PP representative only contacted us days before the event, requesting our presence at the monologues. This put a strain on all of our schedules, making our attendance at the events rushed and put together at the last minute. On the bright side, when communication with Planned Parenthood is up to par, they are quite helpful in providing us with the necessary materials, i.e. condoms, pamphlets, petitions, to make our on-campus involvement a success.

Like I previously mentioned, communication between the members of our Summit group hasn’t been all that great either. While the event was only planned two days prior to the first night of Vagina Monologues, some of my housemates weren’t informed until the day before. We’ve all come to the conclusion that this is unacceptable, and we as a house must brainstorm more productibe means of communicating about Summit events. Brady posted an event calendar downstairs right outside our front door, a place where our events are easily accessible to all members of the house. In addition, I’ve taken it upon myself to start sending out a group text upon the creation of a new event, or a meeting with Kenny. My role in Summit has been the Faculty Liaison, which isn’t exactly the most demanding task, so I figured this new responsibility of mine will be nothing overwhelming.

Let’s see, goals for the semester. I would like to see an improved relationship between Planned Parenthood and our Summit group. Not only this, but improved communication between the members of the house, but I believe our new event calendar and group texts will do the trick. This far I think the major strength of Panthers for Planned Parenthood has been our ability to become involved on campus. But this semester I’d like to see a bit more involvement in Planned Parenthood events, while still maintaining our status on Drury’s campus.

At this stage in the game, our events in the semester have not been set in stone, so I’m anxious to see what will be happening in Summit. Hopefully our new found communication skills will spur more involved, brainstormed ideas about Summit events from all members of house. A meeting with Kenny is in the works, so our semester events will be set and publicized in the very near future. This semester is looking to be quite interesting for the Panthers for Planned Parenthood.

Laura Jean

Give the Gift of Love!

It seems that my blog post from November never posted to the site…interesting, so bear with me as I attempt to recollect the events of November.

In conjunction with the V-Warriors and Allies, we sponsored the Safe-Sex Campaign/Kinky Crafting two weeks in to November. Going along with our theme for our Panthers for Planned Parenthood, we wanted this event to emphasize our attempt to remove the taboo associated with the usage of contraceptives. To effectively convey this, we allotted students condoms, along with art supplies such as paint, feathers, sequins, and glitter to create safe-sex themed art. I was worried we wouldn’t have much of a turnout, but I couldn’t have been more wrong! We had at least twenty or thirty students come out to support our cause. To say the least, the event was a success. Also, I’d like to thank you to our architecture pal Nick Fish for tagging our Safe Sex photo backdrop.

I can’t say we had the same success with our Juno movie night in the last of November. Our turnout totaled three. Quite disappointing, really. I’d say we probably should have advertised a bit more, because I feel like our free condoms, Twizzlers, and Sunny D would have drawn in quite the crowd. And it probably didn’t help that we held the event the day students returned after Thanksgiving Break. But this was only a minor setback; we’ve learned that we need to prepare more in terms of advertising our events and next time, the same won’t happen.

Alright. On to December. World AIDS Day served as this semester’s final event. We wanted to celebrate the holiday season, so we thought it’d be neat to make those close pin reindeer like the ones everyone made in elementary school for Christmas ornaments. The reindeer were our cutesy was of hanging the condoms from our Christmas tree in commons. I’m fairly certain everyone got a kick out of them. I think a few of my housemates even made a few clever slogans for the condom reindeer like “Give the gift of love this holiday season” and “Wrap your Christmas presents”.

Anyhow, Wiemar proposed we answer some questions in response to this semester is Summit, so here it goes:

Q: What events have taken place at the agency have you have volunteered for and how have you assisted this month?

A: Our events this semester haven’t been directly through Planned Parenthood, but rather and extension of their message, and ours, to remove the social stigma associated with sexual education and the use of contraceptives. In November and December our events – the Kinky Crafting/Safe Sex Campaign, Juno movie night, and World AIDS Day all communicate our emphasis upon this theme.

Q: As we end the semester, what have been your best experiences and toughest experiences with your partnership agency?

A: It has been exceedingly difficult to communicate with Planned Parenthood throughout the semester. At the same time, I feel they are very excited that we have created a chapter of Planned Parenthood on Drury’s campus.

Q: How do you see your group project evolving into the spring semester now that you have one semester under your belt?

A: I think that in the spring semester we will be more involved in off-campus events with Planned Parenthood, especially with the Roe vs. Wade anniversary fast approaching.

Q: What skills have you gained or improved this semester that came directly out of being part of the Summit Leadership Experience?

A: My confidence in speaking with strangers has definitely been influenced by our on-campus events, particularly the lunchtime Ovarian Cancer Awareness and World AIDS Day booths.

Q: As we end the Wellness Program, and Stress Free Now, what have been the highlights –low and high – of this program and what would you suggest for the future if this is continued?

A: I especially enjoyed the weekly events – the yoga, tai chi, and massage session. On the other hand, the online meditation work was quite cheesy. I’ve done meditation work before, and have never found it quite this ridiculous and laughable.

Q: What are you looking forward to over the winter break?

A: Sleep. Quite the original answer, yes, I know. Actually, I took a glassblowing classes over the summer and would very much enjoy taking a few more over break. Also, Elyse and possibly Stephanie will be visiting St. Louis for New Years to hang out with Amanda, Kevin, and me. It should be a great time.

Have a Happy Holidays everyone!

Laura Jean

Happy Friday!

Hello bloggers! Happy Friday and Happy Halloween!

As you may or may not have noticed, the month of October has not been all that busy in Panthers for Planned Parenthood house. We've been focusing most of our time brainstorming the events for November. So, never fear, we're making a comeback in the next month.

Last night, Thursday the 28th of October, we held our first meeting with the V-Warriors and Allies about our up-and-coming collaborative event, a Safe Sex Campaign and Kinky Crafting Session. In order to promote such, we're suppling all sorts of paints and other arts and crafts supplies for students to combine on canvas with safe sex supplies, such as condoms, lubes, etc. Here's your chance to get creative and support safe sex: we'll be in the FSC on Monday, November 15th at six, so stop by after dinner and create your own piece of art!

On a side note, Juno Night is still on for November! Expect a viewing of the quirky comedy sometime in mid-November, again, to promote safe sex awareness.

Twizzlers? check

Sunny D? check

Orange Tic-Tacs? check

Pregnancy? ...

A fun night with your friends, free food, prizes, and Juno in the Lay Hall Auditorium? I think so. Stay tuned for a set date and time, which is to be posted within the week.

Have a safe and sexy Halloween!

Laura Jean

Juno It's Hump Day?

Hey toots! I see you’ve come across this blog, Panthers for Planned Parenthood; if you haven’t read anything previous, you probably have a few questions as to what we’re about.

First off, my name is Laura Harmon. Here at Drury University, I’m majoring in architecture and art history. I suppose you’re surprised I’m not majoring in feminism.

Segway.

Quite honestly, my interest in the Summit Park Leadership Community didn’t originate with the excitement of leadership opportunities and community involvement; it began with a classy little house just off campus, eight friends, and free laundry. But Summit has become so much more than this. Working in conjunction with Planned Parenthood means removing the social taboo associated with sexual health. I’m sure when you think of Planned Parenthood, you think abortion, but we’re staying clear of those messy political issues, which by the way, aren’t even provided in Springfield. Oh, the side effects of living in the “bible belt”...

Personally, I’ve never been all that comfortable with discussing, let alone preaching about sexual health. I think that my involvement in Panthers for Planned Parenthood will not only benefit the Drury community but will allow me to become more comfortable with being educated about sexual health and related issues.

Segway.

As my fellow homies, yes, they are my housemates, have previously mentioned, we had our first event last week. On Wednesday, the fifteen of September, we set up a station outside of the commons to spread awareness of Ovarian Cancer. We handed out flyers and encouraged everyone to wear our teal ribbons; and we drew them in with cookies. The ribbons were gone by 12:30, so I’d say the event was quite the success.

Last night we had our first official meeting with our lovely staff advisor, Dr. Erin Kenny. In planning upcoming events, we hope to garner even more support from the student body. We’ve decided to have a screening of the film Juno, hopefully on Wednesday 10 November, to inform about teen pregnancy. Yes, copious amounts of Twizzlers and SunnyD will be provided, along with some other undecided food selections. Brady and I proposed calling the event “Juno It’s Hump Day?” but the rest of the group doesn’t agree.

We’ve also started thinking about the social event we’re to host for the other members of Summit in February. Kenny suggested ballroom dancing, which could be quite fun. Classy dancing and possibly red velvet cupcakes…

Get excited,

Laura Jean